"Ira Leesfield"

Published on: July 2, 2024

Lawsuit Filed in Case of City of Doral Police Department Officers injured in April shooting at Martini Bar

Two police officers with the City of Doral Police Department are suing a local bar, its managing company, a security company and one other after a man was allowed inside the location with a gun.

The shooting happened on April 6, 2024, at the Martini Bar Doral, located at 3450 NW 83rd Ave., Suite 144. The two officers, Andre A. Romo and Ricardo A. Acevedo, were patrolling the area on off-duty detail when a dispute broke out involving 37-year-old Jamal Wayne Wood who entered the bar with a gun. The shooting resulted in the death of a security guard and the injury of seven others, including the two responding officers. Wood was also killed that night by responding officers.

Acevedo and and Romo responded to the scene after seeing the chaos of fleeing patrons. Both officers were injured by the stampede of customers as they tried to get inside to stop Wood’s rampage. Wood aimed and shot at Romo and Acevedeo and the other officers who responded to the scene. Romo was “dangerously close” to being hit and Acevedo was shot in the leg, mere centimeters from his femoral artery, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Attorney with Leesfield & Partners, P.A..

Published on: June 25, 2024

Consumer Product Safety Commission urges consumers to steer clear of these carbon monoxide detectors. What’s wrong with the product?

By Leesfield & Partners

In a statement released late last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission urged buyers to avoid a specific company’s carbon monoxide detectors and replace it immediately.

Carbon monoxide detectors have the capacity to prevent about 200 deaths of accidental exposure a year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

With regular episodes of exposure to the lethal gas dominating headlines including the hospitalization of over a dozen Miami condo residents earlier this month, the use of these life-saving detectors has never been more important. However, some companies making these essential devices should be avoided.

Published on: June 4, 2024

Dozens of Miami condo residents hospitalized Tuesday after possible carbon monoxide leak. How often does this happen?

By Leesfield & Partners

About 60 people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and 22 were taken to the hospital after a possible leak Tuesday at a Miami condominium.

The possible leak was reported just before 5 a.m. at the Hemingway Villa Condominiums in West Miami-Dade, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. By 7 a.m. Tuesday, emergency responders were still searching for the leak.

Additional details were not immediately available Tuesday.

Published on: May 21, 2024

Miami Trolley Hits Man Trying to Retrieve Bicycle in Little Havana, police say. Are pedestrian deaths on the rise?

By Leesfield & Partners

Any pedestrian crossing the street on U.S. 1 or trekking down the sidewalk on Kendall Drive during rush hour knows to remain vigilant. Drivers in Miami have been known to text behind the wheel, speed, take traffic laws as suggestions and honk when unnecessary. The joke that Miami’s distracted drivers don’t know what they are doing is shared among coworkers, friends and grocery store clerks alike with a disapproving shake of their heads.

It is only when there is a horrific and violent crash that cannot be undone that the chuckling stops and people are reminded of just how dangerous the roads can be.

What happened?

Published on: May 21, 2024

Ocala driver charged after driving drunk in crash that killed 8, injured 38. How Leesfield & Partners does its part to fight for families and eradicate the prevalence of impaired drivers on the road.

By Leesfield & Partners

People all over the world rely on public transportation to get them where they need to go every day. They go to work, school and are expected to come home safely. Sadly, that was not the case for at least 46 people last week in Marion County after a bus rollover crash killed eight farm workers on board and injured 38 others.

According to a statement from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 53 people aboard a bus just before 7 a.m. on May 14 when it had a sideswipe crash with a 2001 Ford Ranger private truck. The bus went off the road following the crash, through a fence and later rolled over.

At least eight of the 38 passengers who were injured were reported to be in critical condition, according to the Miami Herald. The driver of the truck involved in the incident, 41-year-old Bryan Maclean Howard, of Ocala, was charged Tuesday with eight counts of driving under the influence and manslaughter. Details on the name of the transportation company that operated the bus in the crash were not immediately available.

Published on: February 27, 2024

E-Bikes banned in Key Biscayne following tragic wrongful death incident of bicyclist – A call for legislative action

By Leesfield & Partners

Man-on-e-bike-300x200 A recent accident in Key Biscayne, Florida, involving a 12-year-old riding an e-bike and a traditional bicycle, tragically resulted in the death of the bicyclist, Megan Andrews, a career-educator and pillar in the community. This incident has once again brought the dangers of e-bikes, particularly when operated by younger riders, into sharp focus.

Key Biscayne’s local leaders, under massive public pressure, approved a temporary complete ban on e-bikes during an emergency meeting. The temporary ban will be in place for 60 days, the maximum length of time the Village could approve without running afoul of the law. The ban applies all roads of the Village of Key Biscayne except for Crandon Boulevard (the main and highest-traffic roadway of Key Biscayne) because it is owned and regulated by Miami-Dade County.

Electric bikes, or e-bikes, have become increasingly popular in the entire country, including Florida. However, when it comes to children using e-bikes and the dangers they bring, the legislator has dropped the ball miserably by failing to address crucial safety concerns:

Published on: June 16, 2023

Country’s Leading Carbon Monoxide Law firm Secures Eight-Figure Settlement

By Leesfield & Partners

Leesfield & Partners recently represented a couple exposed to carbon monoxide while on vacation in a foreign country. Despite numerous legal obstacles, an eight-figure settlement was secured in less than nine months. This is the latest of several CO exposure cases this firm has handled recently, an area of personal injury that requires creative legal strategizing and extensive legal experience.

What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon monoxide poisoning arises when one breathes in carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas devoid of scent, flavor, and hue. Even minimal exposure can have various effects on an individual, leading to fatigue, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide over a substantial duration can give rise to grave symptoms and health hazards, such as loss of consciousness, permanent brain damage, and fatality.

Published on: January 19, 2023

Leesfield & Partners settles back to back Legionnaires’ Disease cases against Resort

By Leesfield & Partners

Leesfield & Partners reached two six-figure settlements in Legionnaires’ Disease cases against the same Resort. Ira Leesfield and attorneys with the firm argued that the resort was negligent in failing to properly maintain and sanitize its water systems, including decorative water features, which led to the spread of the bacteria and the infection of guests.

Our two clients, one from Florida and the other from Maryland, did not know each other and their stay did not overlap in time. Nonetheless, both were infected, contracted the disease and experienced a very similar onset of symptoms. First they began experiencing generalized body soreness, extreme fatigue, chills, difficulty breathing, and high fever. They went to the hospital within days of returning from the resort and were admitted with pneumonia and double pneumonia respectively. Infectious disease doctors consulted with both clients and upon further testing, a diagnosis of Legionnaires’ Disease was made.

Maryland and Florida’s Department of Health officials investigated the potential source of the infection and quickly zeroed in on a Florida resort as the potential source. Within days Health officials inspected the resort and found the Legionella bacteria in one of the many decorative water features of the resort. Within ten months of being retained, Leesfield & Partners secured a six-figure settlement for each client.

Published on: September 27, 2021

Scooter operator fatally injured in collision with UPS truck in Miami Beach

By Leesfield & Partners

Last week, the driver of a scooter was fatally injured in an incident with a UPS driver in Miami Beach. The reports at the time have collectively made a point to say that the operator of the scooter was not wearing a helmet, almost impuning them. Florida drivers know full-well that helmets are not required to operate a motorcycle or a scooter/moped. Whether in the court of public opinion or court of law, not wearing a helmet is not a reason to accuse an innocent driver of wrongdoing, without knowing all facts surrounding an incident, including this latest fatal collision.

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Read Ira Leesfield and Justin Shapiro’s article published in Trial on ways to approach litigation involving e-scooters and sharing services.

Let us be very clear. In general, when a scooter operator -not wearing a helmet- is thrashed by another vehicle, the focus is not and never should be on the helmet. The one and only cause for the incident in that scenario is the negligent, often reckless driver of the at-fault vehicle, who expressed utter disregard for other motorists on the road. Defense attorneys attempt to take the focus away from the main thing, which is their client’s negligence. The strategy is to appeal to the general population’s biases against motorcycles, scooters and mopeds in general, which makes us look for a reason to blame the victim. For the past 45 years, Leesfield & Partners has litigated countless cases while representing families whose spouse, child or parent was killed by another vehicle, including commercial trucks.

Published on: September 7, 2021

School bus driver – The non-obvious defendant

By Leesfield & Partners

Partner Justin Shapiro has recently represented a family whose minor son (JD) was ran over by a distracted motorist as he was about to board a school bus. After a arduous legal battle, the family ultimately prevailed and settled against the at-fault driver and the school district for the school bus driver’s negligence.

Like every weekday, JD reported to the designated gathering area on the corner of the intersection just before 6:00 a.m. At approximately 6:10 a.m., the school bus arrived on the opposite corner of the intersection and stopped in the middle of the road. It was pitch dark outside as there were no street lights in the area. Despite the long line of buses situated “bumper-to-bumper” ahead of the bus, the driver initiated the flashing lights and signaled the children to cross the street and board the bus. There was no designated crosswalk from the gathering area to the corner where the bus stopped. Relying on the driver’s direction, JD and the other children began to cross the street.

At that time, a motorist traveling southbound in the direction of the group of children could not see the mobile traffic devices on the school bus due to the heavy traffic and numerous school buses in the northbound lane with their headlights on. Tragically and inevitably, the vehicle crashed into the child at a high rate of speed. JD was left unconscious, laying motionless on the ground. He was airlifted to the hospital, diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injuries from which he and his family will never recover.